I have gone back and forth for awhile now, debating on whether I should submit this story. It is absolutely, 100% truly something that happened to me. I am skeptical about the events, though... While my friend and her mother insist that they had nothing to do with what went on, I am still up in the air about how I feel about ghosts and spirits and whatnot. Anyway, with that disclaimer, here is my story...

This story takes place when I was about twelve years old. I was on vacation with a friend of mine (we'll call her Jackie), her family, and another friend (we'll call her Madison) in Massachusetts. We were staying at a KOA campground near Boston, and one night, my friend and her mother (both intensely interested in everything paranormal) suggested that we hold a séance. I'm pretty skeptical in general when it comes to ghosts and whatnot – I'd never had a personal experience with it, didn't really believe that it was possible to speak to the dead, and felt that even if it WERE possible, it probably wasn't something to be messing with. Anyway, for whatever reason, being bored maybe, I agreed. So did Madison, although reluctantly. We began – lit the candles, sat around the picnic table, held hands, and cleared our minds so that we'd be more open to the spirits. It all seemed pretty hokey to me… straight out of a movie, but I was having a good time. My friend's mother began the séance, but mid way through her spiel, Madison decided she had had enough and broke the circle. Jackie's mother informed us that we couldn't continue once the circle has been broken because it could lead to all sorts of problems.

We were sitting around after that, all a little disgruntled since the fun had been ruined. Jackie decided that we should try our luck with the Ouija board instead. This I was a little more reluctant about. I had heard all sorts of negative things about messing with those. But, being 12, I had no intention of looking scared in front of everyone (we had just teased Madison mercilessly for backing down), so I put on my brave face and agreed. We made a makeshift board out of a strip of brown paper towel, filling the letters in with a marker and using a playing card as a planchette. Starting out, we asked basic questions, trying to connect with anything at all and not really having much luck. As we got more into things, though, we seemed to connect with a spirit named 'Keith'. He was young (like a young adult) but could not or would not tell us his age. He began to answer only to my questions, calling me 'Mae'. He would not tell us how he died or how he knew me, or why he was calling me Mae, he just spelled 'cold' a few times. He then spelled out "remember red". Things got weird after that. The planchette was all over the board after that, and the answers we started getting were nonsensical. When we asked if it was still Keith, the planchette pointed to 'no', and spelled out 'bad'. The planchette slid quickly across the board and across the picnic table, and onto the ground. We picked it up, pointed it to 'goodbye', and ended the session. Jackie's mother took care of the board, and we went to bed.

Now, Jackie, Madison, and I were sharing a tent while Jackie's parents were in a cabin next to us. Sometime during the night, I began to feel extremely uneasy. I couldn't fall asleep. I couldn't relax, like I had too much adrenaline. I figured that I had freaked myself out too much, and tried to just force myself to sleep by telling myself that I was being ridiculous. But, finally I insisted to Jackie and Madison that I was just too uncomfortable on the ground and I'd prefer to sleep in the cabin. They agreed, and in we went. The next morning, when we woke up, our tent was flattened and flooded.

To this day, I don't know if Jackie and her mom were messing with me, or if the tent collapse was just a coincidence, but it definitely scared the hell out of me. I never messed with a Ouija again.

I do prefer to remain anonymous, please.

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